


He Mourns

by StrangeMischief



Category: Doctor Strange (2016), Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Angst, Gen, Grief/Mourning, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, stephen strange centric
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-16
Updated: 2018-07-16
Packaged: 2019-06-11 15:25:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,763
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15318453
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StrangeMischief/pseuds/StrangeMischief
Summary: Stephen had heard countless sobs during his life. Sobs of grief. Of pain. Of loss. Of anger, even. He’d heard this one before too. The sob of a father who has lost a son.He would give anything to never have to hear it again.





	He Mourns

He Mourns

 

 “He _mourns,_ ” Mantis wailed, realization clear in her oversized eyes.

 

Stephen’s face scrunches in confusion at her words. This was not how this future was meant to pass.

 

Quill, who had previously been gloating, goes silent for a split second before understanding himself. “You _bastard!”_ he screams as he rams his body against Thanos.

 

Mantis slips from her perch on Thanos’ neck and falls into Stephen’s chest, sending the two tumbling through the sand.

 

And then it all goes to hell.

 

\---

 

Drax and Mantis are dead.

 

Peter and Nebula are nowhere to be seen.

 

Stephen is struggling to catch his breath after being hurled across the sand dunes like a ragdoll.

 

Not far away a wounded Tony leans heavily against a rock formation while his nano-armor slowly repairs itself.

 

Quill is dying. He uses his final, croaky breath to mutter something about Gamora.

 

Thanos peers down at the fallen man thoughtfully, seeming to contemplate his words.

 

Tony seizes on his distraction and deploys a swarm of small rockets.

 

Thanos clenches his fist and the reality stone shines. The rockets warp into dozens of silver spears that turn and fly back towards were Tony and Stephen are standing.

 

The Cloak reacts before the sorcerer can, heaving him upwards and out of harm's way.

 

Tony, still leaning against the rocks, is shoved aside by a small body.

 

Stephen watches in horror as a spear sails towards Peter. As it slices clear through his body as if he were made of paper. As he crumbles to the ground with a scream.

 

Tony rushes towards his protégé while the sorcerer turns back to Thanos.

 

A look that might be called pity crosses the alien’s face as he too stares at Peter’s fallen body.

 

He clenches his fist and is gone.

 

All that, and he hadn’t even taken the stone.

 

\---

 

Stephen had tried his best to mend Peter, but with no way to replenish the blood that was lost, there was little he could do.

 

The boy was now situated in Tony’s arms where he was shivering violently.

 

“Mr.-Mr. Stark,” he rasped, “I-I wanna go home.” Peter’s ghostly white hand slowly rose from the ground to grasp weakly at his mentor’s repaired suit. “Please…Please Mr. Stark,” his voice was barely more than a whisper. “I just wanna go home.”

 

Peter’s body stopped moving.

 

Tony drew the boy closer, cradling him to his chest and was silent for several moments.

 

And then he began to sob.

 

Stephen had heard countless sobs during his life. Sobs of grief. Of pain. Of loss. Of anger, even. He’d heard this one before too. The sob of a father who has lost a son.

 

He would give anything to never have to hear it again.  

 

\---

 

After some time, Tony goes silent. His grip on Peter slackens as he stares blankly at the darkening sky.

 

Nebula approaches them.

 

She briskly tells them she will take them to Earth in her ship.

 

Tony doesn’t say a word as Stephen pulls Peter into his own arms. He doesn’t protest when the Cloak pushes against his back, guiding him towards the ship. Not a sound passes his lips as they fly away from Titan, and back towards Earth.

 

\---

 

Wong appears through a portal as soon as the ship lands outside New York City.

 

“I still have the stone,” Stephen mummers after they greet each other. “Thanos hasn’t got it yet.”

 

“Yet?” Wong asks, confused. “Thanos is dead, Stephen. Thor killed him in battle in Wakanda two days ago.”

 

Tony, who seems to have little interest in the conversation rasps out a weak, “Pepper?”

 

Wong’s face shifts from confusion to that of controlled stoicism.

 

Stephen’s heart wrenches.

 

\---

 

Wong takes them to a grave so new the headstone hasn’t been placed yet. He and Stephen stand a respectable distance while Tony kneels on the ground, his body shuddering with silent tears.

 

Eventually Tony slips into unconsciousness, the toll of what has come to pass to great a burden to bare any longer.

 

The two sorcerers sweep him away to the Sanctum to tend to his wounds.

 

\---

 

May Parker cries hysterically through Peter’s funeral.

 

Stephen’s blue eyes brim with tears of his own from where he stands in the back next to a stock-still Tony.

 

It’s been three days since Nebula brought them back to Earth.

 

Tony still hasn’t spoken.

 

 

\---

 

Stephen carefully dips a swab in clear ointment before smearing it over the stitching on Tony’s exposed side.

 

“It shouldn’t be much longer until they can come out,” he assures the billionaire. “It _will_ scar though. You have my apologies.”

 

Tony stares at the ceiling of “his” room at the Sanctum. He says nothing, as usual.

 

They have been back for a week.

 

\---

 

 

Members of the Avengers come knocking on the Sanctum door, looking for Tony. First James Rhodes, followed by Banner, and then Thor.

 

Stephen waves them in and sends them to Tony’s room, hoping a more familiar face will get the man to break his silence.

 

It doesn’t.

 

\---

 

It’s morning.

 

Stephen throws open the curtains in Tony’s room and offers a quick “Good morning,” before walking from the room.

 

He leaves the door open so the smell of coffee wafers in.

 

Tony will stumble out for a cup sometime before lunch and then slip back into bed.

 

\---

 

At some point, Stephen gives up on sleeping. He didn’t sleep well before Titan, and he certainly doesn’t sleep after.

 

When he closes his eyes, he sees Peter’s limp body in his mind.

 

If he actually drifts off, he hears the boy begging to be brought home.

 

If, by some small miracle, the sorcerer manages to fall into blissful slumber Tony’s screams from down the hall wake him with a jolt.

 

So, Stephen abandons sleep. His bed remains cold. Dust collects in his bedroom.

 

Instead, he drifts back to Tony’s room long after the other man falls asleep to lounge in the loveseat across from the bed. He watches the other man roll in fitful rest until his own eyes drop closed on their own accord.

 

They have been back for a month.

 

\---

 

It’s afternoon.

 

Wong returns from the deli with three sandwiches. He keeps the tuna melt for himself and leaves the two roast beef ones on the counter.

 

Stephen hauls Tony out of bed and the two walk to the kitchen for lunch.

 

Stephen talks.

 

Tony doesn’t.

 

\---

 

“We can’t keep him here forever, Stephen!” Wong barks across the library table.

 

“Don’t you think I know that!” he shouts back, thumping his fist on the dark wood.

 

This argument had become familiar.

 

“He needs to be pushed,” Wong insists. “We can’t let him continue to wallow!”

 

“He _needs_ to heal,” Stephen hisses back angrily.

 

Wong threw the newspaper on the table. The most prominent article detailed the rebuilding efforts in the city and the memorial being built for those who had died.

 

“The world is moving on, Stephen,” Wong says. “He needs to as well.”

 

Stephen glares at him.

 

Wong sighs and rubs a hand down his face.

 

“He _does_ need to heal,” he agrees. “But he can’t do that from inside his room.”

 

Stephen turns his eyes to the window and scowls at the sunrise.

 

Wong is right.

 

Stephen gives his friend a silent nod.

 

The pair leaves the room.

 

Wong makes the coffee.

 

Stephen opens the curtains.

\---

 

It is early in the evening.

 

All three men sit in the kitchen for dinner before fractioning off for the night.

 

Wong slips off to who knows where.

 

Stephen grips Tony’s wrist, preventing him from retreating to his room. “Come with me for a while.”

 

They go to the library. Stephen pulls down a book on chakra energy theory and drops it in Tony’s lap before sitting across from him to read a dusty scroll.

 

Tony sits still for some time before placing the book on the table and opening to the first page.

 

Stephen tries not to smile.

 

It’s been two months since they returned.

 

\---

 

May Parker comes to the Sanctum. She wants to see Tony.

 

Stephen thinks of Tony. Tony, who is sitting in the living room watching cars race around a track on the TV instead of sitting in his room. Tony, who now drifts into the library on his own accord and reads books almost as quickly as Stephen himself. Tony, who sat in the study two days ago and rewired a broken lamp.

 

Tony who has not spoken a word since asking for Pepper.

 

He looks at May and wonders if seeing her will break him.

 

And then he thinks of Peter who just wanted to come home.

 

Stephen opens the door wider and welcomes her in.

 

She sits next to Tony and talks.

 

Tony says nothing.

 

She leaves.

 

Tony gets up and walks away.

 

Stephen can hear the door slam upstairs.

 

It’s been three months since they returned.

 

\---

 

 

It’s late in the evening.

 

Stephen pulls the curtains in Tony’s room shut before moving for the door.

 

He turns as he shuts the door and offers a tired smile to the other man. “Goodnight, Tony.”

 

As usual, Tony says nothing.

 

And, as usual, Stephen makes sure the door is completely shut before he presses his forehead against the cool wood, finally letting himself break down and cry for the day.

 

\---

 

Stephen falls onto the loveseat in Tony’s room with a bit more force than necessary.

 

The sound of a body shuffling in the sheets can be heard from the bed across the room.

 

_Shit._

The sorcerer remains still, hoping Tony will roll over and get some much-needed sleep.

 

“Stephen.”

 

The man jolts upright at his name. His weary heart beats faster and he, for a moment, forgets what it’s like to breathe.

 

“Tony?” he gasps, saying the name as one would say a desperate prayer.

 

Tony sits upright in his bed and stares intently at Stephen.

 

“Stop sleeping on the damn loveseat,” he chokes out, voice dry and strained from disuse.

 

Stephen can’t help but feel a stab of rejection at the words and tries to focus on the fact that _he’s talking again_ rather than that Tony uses his first words to kick him from the room.

 

He’s stood, ready to leave when he realizes Tony has moved to one side of the bed and peeled back the sheets on the other side. The invitation is clear.

 

Stephen hesitantly slips into the bed.

 

He almost jerks when rough fingers intertwine with his scarred ones.

 

“Stephen,” Tony whispers thickly.

 

“Yes?” Stephen’s voice quivers.

 

“Thank you.”

 

They had been back for four months.

**Author's Note:**

> This was initially a chapter in a larger work I've been working on but it has a bit of a different tone so I decided to exclude it. 
> 
> I figured rather than let it sit untouched on my computer I'd let those interested read it :)


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